Down to business: What Melania’s new menswear obsession means for the Trump administration

Earlier this week, First Lady Melania Trump strode into the U.S. Capitol on a mission. She was there to lobby for a new online safety bill aimed at protecting children from revenge porn. It was her first solo public appearance since she resumed the role of first lady on January 20, and she made sure to arrive in style. The 54-year-old opted against a skirt and blouse, instead donning a camel-colored Ralph Lauren suit with a black ribbon tie, pointed lapels, collared shirt, and a matching vest.

Over the past few months, Melania has been power-dressing to the max, styling menswear designs with feminine touches. It’s been a far cry from the wardrobe we saw in her first stint as FLOTUS when she wore a powder blue wrap coat dress to the 2016 inauguration, tucked skinny-leg khakis into knee-high boots at the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Campaign, and teamed hot pink pumps with a banana yellow cape for the NATO Leaders Summit in 2019.

Now, she’s twinning in a tuxedo alongside her husband for black-tie events at the White House. On February 22, the Slovenia-born former model joined Donald Trump as he hosted the National Governor’s Association annual dinner. The two were photographed holding hands in their matching getup on the red carpet, prompting some social media commentators to suggest, “Well, we know who wears the pants in the relationship.”

For her official White House portrait, Melania posed in a single-breasted Dolce & Gabbana black twill tuxedo jacket, a satin cummerbund, a white shirt, and single-pleated matching pants. The official image, printed in black-and-white, showed her in a power pose, leaning over a reflective desk. ‘Melania Trump Cosplays The Apprentice’ read Vogue’s headline analyzing the shot.

Even for her first official appearance as the new FLOTUS, she opted for an elongated suit coat by Adam Lippes and a wide-brimmed top hat by Eric Javits.

So, what’s behind this new menswear obsession? Is Melania sending a message to her husband and his conservative base — a proverbial middle finger to the Andrew Tate-following alpha male wannabes? “She’s using her fashion to communicate something,” says Graves. “ I don’t think it’s a huge departure from what she was wearing [during her first four years as FLOTUS]. It’s more of an evolution.”

Melania’s been known to communicate her feelings through clothing in the past. In fact, she silently campaigned against the public’s perception of her when she wore a sweatshirt with “I really don’t care, do you?” emblazoned on the back seven years ago.

“It was for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me,” she said of her sweater’s note at the time. “I want to show them I don't care.”

Graves thinks Melania’s penchant for menswear now conveys a new message, one that reflects her intentions for the next four years. “ She’s signaling, ‘I’m in business. I’m not just a pretty face. I’m here to do a job.’”

Meanwhile, Albert Varkki, fashion expert and the co-founder of the luxury leather goods brand Von Baer, believes Melania’s fashion is “a reflection of a broader cultural shift in power dressing and a redefinition of classic femininity in political contexts.”

Women have been using menswear as a means to establish dominance and mutual respect since they first took over working-class jobs during the Industrial Revolution and when men were forced to leave their factory jobs for the Second World War, leaving their female counterparts to fill their positions.

“Menswear-inspired looks, historically linked to symbols of power and dominance, helped Melania build an image that was at once enigmatic and unattainable, highlighting her presence without frill,” Varkki notes.

While the tailoring of her clothes may be slim as opposed to the looser menswear silhouette, she’s refusing to live in society’s outdated definition of femininity in which women are the dainty and quiet accessories to powerful men.

“ She’s wearing trousers to be different. She’s saying, ‘I’m an equal,’” Graves explains.

That said, Graves doesn’t believe Melania’s cross-dressing is a campaign against her husband or his views on gender norms.

“I feel like Donald Trump is a very alpha male, and would expect him to have, a beautiful, in whichever way you define beauty, someone feminine to kind of counterbalance that energy,” Graves said. “ And Melania wearing a suit is not necessarily going against that. I think she's strategically styling those stronger codes in a very feminine way. So she still fits into that.

“ I think if she was trying to be masculine, she wouldn't be doing it this way — wearing heels and an open shirt. It reminds me of Tom Ford in the 1990s,” she continued. “ She's just kind of changing the codes without taking that feminine side away.”